Mudslides trap trucks and cars on California highways

By Land Line staff | Friday, October 16, 2015

At midday Friday, 75 tractor-trailers and more than a hundred cars were still trapped in up to 20 feet of mud on California Highway 58. A separate mudslide kept Interstate 5 shut down in part of the Grapevine.

I-5 was closed north of Santa Clarita and Highway 58 was shut down near Tehachapi Pass.

The mudslides started late Thursday, Oct. 15, during heavy rain and hail. Rescue crews got most people out of their vehicles, but some drivers chose to spend the night with their cars and trucks.

The Los Angeles Timesquotes truck driver Shannon Doyle as saying he saw four women who were covered in mud from head to toe sloshing down the roadway holding purses.

At press time on Friday, bulldozers were pushing mud off the roads and freeing up vehicles, in one case giving priority to two truckers who were hauling livestock.

Amazingly, state officials handling the catastrophe say no injuries or deaths have been reported.